Indurain Upstaged In Tour

But Spaniard Gains In Overall Lead

July 12, 1995|By Samuel Abt, New York Times News Service.

LA PLAGNE, France — On its first of two days in the Alps and the ninth of 20 daily stages, the Tour de France began to resemble a two-man race Tuesday. The two are Miguel Indurain, the four-time defending champion, and--in a big surprise--Alex Zuelle, the "other" Swiss contender.

"Miguel is the professor of the Tour," said his Banesto team's director, Jose-Miguel Echavarri, just Monday. "Now and then, he gives a lesson."

He gave one Tuesday over the final few miles of 99.4 miles of the Alps between Le Grand Bornand and La Plagne, two resorts. Comprising three minor and three major climbs in overcast weather, the stage was won by Zuelle after he attacked nearly 60 miles from the finish.

Crossing the line a dozen minutes before a flash storm drenched most of the rest of the field, Zuelle, who rides for the ONCE team, was timed in 4 hours 41 minutes 18 seconds.

Two minutes 2 seconds later, Indurain finished second. Not for more than two minutes was another rider to be seen. He was Pavel Tonkov, a Russian with the Lampre team.

That meant that rivals like Tony Rominger, the Swiss who was considered to be the real threat to Indurain, lost 4:03 to the Spaniard. Richard Virenque, the French climber with Festina, and Claudio Chiappucci, the Italian climber with Carrera, lost the same amount of time.

Bigger losers were the former contenders Bjarne Riis, a Dane with Gewiss, who lost 5:35 to Indurain; Laurent Jalabert, a Frenchman with ONCE, who lost 5:27, and Yevgeny Berzin, a Russian with Gewiss, who lost 15 minutes.

As hail and rain lashed the course, Indurain donned a new yellow jersey as the overall leader. Second now is Zuelle, 2:27 behind, with Riis third, 5:58 behind, and Rominger fourth, 6:35 behind.

The second Alpine stage will be held Wednesday and will include the fearsome climb to Alpe d'Huez. Another result like this stage will seemingly leave a clear road ahead for Indurain.

Not that the Spaniard coasted up the final 10.5-mile ramp to La Plagne. In fact, he worked even harder than Zuelle, who rose smoothly at a steady speed of 15 mph through a vast and enthusiastic crowd.

He was not unhappy with the result, of course. "The important thing was to leave the others behind," he said, appearing to dismiss any threat posed by Zuelle.

That was understandable since the Swiss, who turned 27 last week and is four years younger than Indurain, is a strong climber but inconsistent and accident-prone. He lost the 1993 Vuelta a Espana to Rominger, for example, by crashing in a rainy descent and followed that a few months later by crashing in a Tour time trial.